WORDS: Nabula El Mourid
As the weather warms up and the school holidays begin, the requests for something cold to eat starts to heat up. Whether it’s after a backyard cricket match, a trip to the park or just another hot afternoon at home, ice blocks are an Australian summer essential.
But have you ever wondered how the popular ice blocks in the aisles get their bright colours? They are often made with artificial food colours. If you are after a simpler option to keep the kids cool this summer, we thought we’d share some of our favourite icy pole supermarket swaps made without artificial colours.
Here are a few options to pop in the freezer for those hot holiday afternoons.
Our Supermarket Top Pick
Juicies Ice Blocks
Made with 99.9% fruit juices, plus some natural flavour and vitamin C, they’re a great alternative to other popular supermarket options. Available in a variety of flavours including Wild Berry, Watermelon and Tropical and they often go on sale.
Ingredients: Fruit Juice (99.9%): Fresh Pressed Apple Juice (95.8%), Fruit Juices (Orange, Pineapple, Mango Passion Fruit), Natural Flavour, Vitamin C
Cost Effective Pick
Peters Lemonade Icy Pole
A classic and refreshing option that’s been around for as long as we can remember. If you want to avoid artificial food colour, stick to the lemonade flavour, which are easy to find in most supermarkets and convenience stores. They do contain a gum, a food acid and flavour but are free from artificial colour. They’re also a cost effective option.
Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Food Acid (330), Flavour, Vegetable Gum (412).
Our Top South Australian Option
PōPSI COOL Raspberry Lemon
PōPSI COOL ice blocks are made in South Australia. The pops are available at a number of local retailers and are made with premium ingredients, including their Raspberry Lemon flavour which is made with 29% raspberries and lemon juice!
Ingredients: Water, Raspberries (29%), Lemon Juice, Raw Sugar.
Try this at home!
Or, if you and the kids want to get into the kitchen, it is easy to make your own ice blocks at home! You can even use a supermarket juice (like Nudie’s 100% fruit juice) or your favourite smoothie blend poured into an icy pole mould.
These are all refreshing icy snacks to keep cool during summer, made with real ingredients.
The Weekly Grocery Shop Book
We all want to buy, cook and eat better food for ourselves and those we love. But getting all your produce from organic farmers’ markets or baking sourdough from scratch isn’t realistic for most people. In The Weekly Grocery Shop, Nabula aims to teach you how to make better choices – nutrition and budget wise – in the aisles so you can better plan a week of delicious and easy meals at home.
We’re all shopping at the supermarket, but admitting that was somewhat taboo. The goal of Supermarket Swap is to take the shame out of supermarkets by arming you all with everything you need to make informed and budget-conscious choices. In the book, Nabula distills the knowledge on how to best navigate the plethora of brand options (and lengthy ingredients lists) and how to get the best deals in your trolley. Then she turns her attention to more than 70 recipes that will take you from breakfast to dinner, and all through the week.
RRP $39.95
Want to know more about our simple swaps? Follow Supermarket Swap to stay up to date or download the Supermarket Swap App to find over 3,500 clean and better choice products available to browse.
